Concert Memories

This page is devoted to fans' memories of Gentle Giant concerts. Please email me your submissions, and be sure to say "I give you permission to post this story on your Web page."

Timothy Campbell, pinnacl@cam.org

Many years ago, Gentle Giant gave a concert at Theatre St. Denis, here in Montreal. This city was one of the first places in North America where GG was first appreciated, and the fans were totally devoted.

Now picture this: Gentle Giant are just winding up the last few notes of Mobile (from Free Hand). The music appears to stop. The audience (about 1500 people) remain ABSOLUTELY SILENT FOR FIVE SECONDS, at which point the drummer does a bass roll of three strokes. The audience goes WILD!

You see, on the record album, there's an inexplicable five-second delay, followed by the drum-roll. EVERYBODY in the audience knew this. NOBODY clapped. NOBODY breathed. 1500 totally dedicated fans (and perhaps a few utterly mystified non-fans) were waiting for the song to end properly.

SHudson653@aol.com

I am a 42-year-old father of two who also considers Gentle Giant the greatest Rock band of all time. Between 1971 and 1978, I saw them live many times. I was also fortunate once to meet the entire band in their hotel room in Boston. I also visited London England in 1976 and actually went to Kerry Minnear's house in Portsmouth. He took myself and a friend to dinner and a pub and paid for it all, not allowing us to spend any money. About what you would expect from Kerry. They were great live, but I remember how much I enjoyed "getting into" their albums as they were released during the 70's. They went downhill starting with The Missing Piece, but that was obviously related to record company pressures and the "Punk" movement. I think that In A Glass House is technically their best album, but Octopus and Free Hand are great in their own right.

Bill O'Reilly, Bill_OReilly@fmi.com

In 1981 a friend of mine started a fanzine called "Dog in Antwerp" because that's what you could do in those days. (I guess you just create a home page now.) It was actually a thinly veiled excuse to try to meet a lot of our then heros in the music biz. He interviewed Rory Gallagher one day (who I recently read sadly died), and because GG were my favourite band, and also because Ray Shulman was in walking distance of where I lived, I decided to pay him a call.

He was pretty gracious all things considered. He lived in a top-floor flat (apartment) just near Earl's Court with his American wife (girlfriend?). The details are a bit hazy now because of my nervousness and the six pints of Double Diamond I drank before-hand to stave of the nervousness, but here's what I remember.

Ray was listening to "Crocadile" by Echo and the Bunny-persons, which I guess was a sign of things to come since he went on to produce Ian McCulloch. He was also actually interested in what I liked which was a compliment I unfortunately missed though being more interested in what he liked. Then, just like in a dream, who should knock at the door but none other than Gary Green! "Hi Gary". I told Gary that I was a computer programmer and he told me about how he used to do computer bookings for the trans-channel ferry as a day job before he joined GG. (don't scoff, it's this type of general chit-chat that you never normally hear about, wonder why...).

We talked a little bit a bit GG music and I remember Ray telling me about that organ fade-out at the end of Way Of Life was actually meant to segue into another song. I guess the album was meant to be longer than it was since I think Way Of Life finished side one on vinyl. I could also sense that they were disappointed but not particularly surprised that they had yet another non-English fan.

When Gary decided to go, so did I. He walked off to Earl's Court tube station and I continued on home in an incredibly up mood. What struck me most was Ray's acceptance of the music scene as it currently was. He could have been pretty bitter after ten or so years of hard work and never really hitting the big time. Instead he was more interested what was going on in music and looking toward the future.

It also seemed ironic that's the band's American success seemed to have a long-term effect on their lives. Ray had (and for all I know still has) an American girl-friend/wife. Gary Green obviously moved to the States (maybe that's not where he was going to when I left him at Earl's Court tube, but obviously did leave sometime after). And of course Derek became an A&R man in the States. And I don't know the demographics of the 210 On-Reflection subscribers but probably most have eagles on their passports.

Bob Parker, rgp@darkwing.uoregon.edu

I just remembered a minor detail that I would like to point out in the Web page.... In Memories Of Old Days, all five members played guitars: Ray and Gary 12-string acoustic guitars, Kerry and John and electric, and Derek on bass.

It's hard to describe the depth these guys had. When we arrived, there was a tension in the air that I have never experienced since at any concert. You went in knowing they were going to deliver -- they didn't fail. Although this is old news to many fans, the show included the five guitar ensemble, the drum/bells deal they have on Playing The Fool, and the recorder part from Playing The Fool also.

Greg Jarrells, jarrelcg@asc-en.wpafb.af.mil

I saw GG in concert in 1980 at a club in Virginia Beach. Believe it was the Civilian tour. Amazing night all the way around. The place held about 1500 people, and it was packed. The friend who went with me and I had front row seats. I remember being surprised there were that many GG fans in a place like VB. Anyway, a local band opened for them, and played for about forty minutes. As soon as the roadies for the local band started clearing the stage, well over half the people in the club got up and left! (We talked the two girls we meet at the club into sticking around to hear Giant. They were in for a shock.) The show was fantastic, and one of the last songs they did was Giant For A Day. When they launched into the song, I whipped out my Giant For A Day mask I had cut from the album cover and put it on. Derek looked down at me, then walked over and indicated he wanted the mask. He put it on, and did the rest of the show wearing it before handing it back to me.

After the encore, one of the roadies came over and said the band would be happy to autograph the mask if I liked. In the event, I got to go back to the dressing room and meet the band. Spent about 30 minutes with them. Had a beer, talked music, talked about other bands. Still have the autographed mask.

Gary Fisher, gafisher@vnet.ibm.com

My most vivid concert memory is pretty easy to choose. As a prelude, you should know that a large group of us in the northern Buffalo, New York, area were into Gentle Giant in a big way. A station wagon full of us visited a friend attending Columbia University in NYC for the weekend of a Manhattan Gentle Giant concert after In A Glass House (my personal favorite Gentle Giant album) came out. Gentle Giant was headlining and the crowd was rocking. At one point Ray stopped during a violin solo (I think it was during Plain Truth), and some guy up front screamed. Ray put down the violin and screamed back at him. Then the whole crowd and Ray started a screaming back at each other before he cranked out the rest of the solo. Needless to say the ovation was long and well-deserved for that number.

Soon after (Fall 1975 or Winter 1976), Gentle Giant was booked in Buffalo as the backup band for Alvin Lee's african-influenced post-Ten-Years-After band -- why, we'll never know. We got in line early and grabbed the entire center 7th and 8th row of Kleinhan's Music Hall (with symphonic quality acoustics). We were psyched! We were early and milling about the stage when Gentle Giant was setting up, and a few of us got unexpected sets of autographs! After the first couple of songs it became evident that, as the review in the paper stated, "a phalanx of Gentle Giant freaks were up front giving standing ovations," while the rest of the crowd didn't know how to handle it. I was on the edge of my seat when Ray started the same violin solo that I had just seen in NYC, and when the pause came I jumped up and screamed -- all by myself in a nearly silent music hall. Ray looked at me and screamed back. Then the two rows of us stood and screamed as one unit back and forth with Ray. We were jumping and jiving and dancing and didn't sit down until the next song started.

It was a bittersweet concert event. They were completely unappreciated by the rest of the audience and didn't come back for a single encore in spite of the two rows of us screaming ourselves hoarse even after the lights came on. The acoustics were wonderful and the effort by the band had been evident, but "you can't make 'em drink..." Alvin Lee's (gratefully short-lived) band was simply awful, and the two rows of us stood up after the second set and filed out to the bar downstairs to discuss the great show we took in. It was like they had been playing just for us. The reviews the next day were all pro-Gentle Giant so we felt vindicated. I saw Gentle Giant many times before and after that, and that (fortunately) was the only time I saw them mistreated, but it was a concert like no other.

Frank Lauria, frank.lauria@internetmci.com

Montgomery County Community College, 1979 or '80--outside Philly:

In the science lecture hall (!?!)...only seated four-to-five hundred people...no lighting except for the normal fluorescents.. band was three hours late in starting due to equipment truck breakdown...more than half the crowd left...band was embarrassed and apologetic by the time they took the "stage" at 11:00 P.M., but seemed genuinely touched that so many of us actually stayed ..and then they just TORE IT UP for the next few hours.

Brian Battles, bbattles@nai.net

I had a terrific opportunity to see them in concert. It was sometime around 1979 or '80, and they opened a show that was headlined, I believe, by Frank Zappa...and I think also included John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra on the bill! Wotta show! The thing I most recall about GG was that it looked like a Chinese fire drill; every member of the band appeared to be playing no more than two or three bars before switching to a different instrument! Yet the sound was seamless...it was either a case of superb arrangement and "choreography," or some kind of incredible innate display of multitalented professional musicians...or maybe the dope we had that night was better than I recall!

Lindsey Spratt, spratt@eecs.ukans.edu

At one of the concerts for Gentle Giant (sometime in the mid-70's), Ray played an extended, improvised violin solo. He used a tape delay and a quadrophonic system where the speakers were placed around the hall (a small place in Boston called the Paradise). He could control the panning between the 4 speakers, bouncing the sound back and forth between pairs of them or having it cycle around the hall (maybe other effects as well). It was great fun, and Ray was clearly enjoying himself as well.

Moody Geof, moodyge@cbse.ge.com

I can remember the first time I saw Gentle Giant, it was in St Georges Hall, Bradford, (W. Yorks) England.

They were the support band on the bill; fair enough, as these were early days and the band were relatively unknown. However, they were support to a Jimi Hendrix Film - I think it was Live at Berkeley.

My fondest memory of the concert was of the vibes solo in Funny Ways. Being a new and poor band and perhaps not being able to afford to mike up the vibes, or maybe they just forgot, whatever, the net result was that in order to hear the solo, a microphone was required. This was held by a roadie, who lay on the stage under the vibes, and made attempts to follow Kerry's hands as they moved backwards and forwards along the instrument. Not, I should add, very successfully.

Phil Drenth, phil@cts.com

I saw Gentle Giant in San Diego on the spring 1977 tour. For their previous show in San Diego they'd been miscast as the opening act in a stadium full of Peter Frampton fans (okay, to be fair, the headliner was Yes, Peter Frampton was second billed, Gary Wright was third billed, GG was the opener) hot on the heels of Frampton Comes Alive. Fifty gazillion yahoos booing down our heroes, as I heard it. During the 1977 show that I saw, Derek graciously apologized to the fans for the context of their previous appearance. We showed up in plenty of time before the show. To our distress, the sound board was where our seats were supposed to be. Glory be, the bouncers gave us seat upgrades to 7th row center! Renaissance gave an excellent performance, then Gentle Giant proceeded to burn the house down. Tightest band I've ever heard to this day. Derek Shulman did this thing with his hand as he was singing, sort of hand-dancing or something. The show was pretty much identical to the live album. One of the most memorable concerts I've seen to this day. I only wish I'd had the opportunity to see Gentle Giant twice.

Mark Allen, mallen@ets.org

Early October 1975, 7:30 P.M. Me and a couple of my friends settle into the 10th row right side of the Spectrum Theatre in Philadelphia, Pa. We had purchased tickets about 2 months earlier to see the Rick Wakeman "Journey to the Center of the Earth Tour". The tickets advertised Gentle Giant as the opening act. We were familiar with the name but hadn't really heard the music. Shortly after 8:00, the lights dimmed and GG took the stage. What happened next ranks as one of my most memorable concert experiences.

My memory is shakey as far as the set list and order of performance, but basically what my friends and I saw was the "Playing the Fool" album in person. "Free Hand" had been released recently so most of the material performed was from that album. But we were totally floored by this virtually unknown band who literally blew Rick Wakeman off the stage. Band members switching off to different instruments every other song, incredible 4 and 5-part harmonies, intricate arrangements, and to top it all off, they ROCKED!

Needless to say, we went out after that show and bought up everything we could from their catalog and caught them in concert about 4 or 5 times in the next 2 years. Things slowed down a bit after "Missing Piece", but GG were truly one of the great unsung bands of the '70's.

Jeffrey S. Kamil, harryhat@wco.com

The strangest combo I ever saw was G.G. open for Poco at Woolsey Hall, Yale University. Most of the audience was there to see Poco. For the first 10 minutes G.G. was being booed off the the stage. After a short time, the crowd shut up and eventually started to listen and liked what they heard. At the end of the set they got a standing ovation. By the way, Poco actually played a great set that night. Being at that show was like eating two dishes from different ethnic groups that you like equally!

Brian Silverman, briguy@telis.org

I saw Gentle Giant in Sep or Oct 72 in Pittsburgh, PA. It was a Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick tour. The opening act was introduced as a band from England that was playing the states for the first time. If memory serves, it was the first concert of the tour. Our seats were behind the stage but we were blown away by this new band anyways. I remember saying to my friend that this was a great band... And I was right.

Duane Day, Duane.Day@ebay.sun.com

The venue for the Santa Barbara '76 was the Arlington Theater, and by the way they did not open for Yes that night, rather playing about 2 1/2 hours themselves with - as I remember - no opener or other band on the bill. It was my first GG concert and my favorite that I saw.

Seeing them several days later doing a 30 or 40 minute set opening for Yes at the Cow Palace was really a disappointment - the sound for GG was terrible. I remember at one point Weathers starting a marimba solo and just holding up the sticks in frustration as he realized that the marimba mics were not turned up at all. The material and arrangements were similar to the contents of Playing The Fool.

The third and last time I saw them was in San Jose, I think the year was 77 or 78. They were supposed to be the openers for Pablo Cruise. The venue was the San Jose Center for Performing Arts, a pretty nice venue where the San Jose symphony does most of its performances. We were treated to an unannounced opening act, a country rock band that - I swear to God - had a tumbleweed blow across the stage as part of their show. Then an announcement - for some reason (GG hadn't shown up yet? Pablo Cruise didn't want to wait around? it never was clear) Pablo Cruise was going to go on next, followed by GG.

This was at a point when Pablo Cruise's popularity was rising, so the crowd was real enthusiastic during their set. (They did have a good pianist in Cory Lerios.) Then they finished their set, and we noticed a fair number of people taking off - they weren't interested enough in GG to even wait and check them out.

Then GG came out and began their set, if I remember right, with the Runaway. Very quickly huge throngs of Pablo Cruise fans began heading for the aisles and out the door. There were probably only a couple hundred people left in the venue for most of GG's set. The upside was that I was able to upgrade my location from 20th row to 2nd row, which was a wonderful treat.

It was a great show but I didn't enjoy it as much as the Santa Barbara show; I think a lot of the material played that night wound up on The Missing Piece, and I missed the complexity, the dissonance, and the all-around weirdness of the earlier material.

Phil Merrigan, r22204@er.uqam.ca

My most powerful experience at a GG concert took place in an outdoor concert in a small town called Trois-Rivieres in Quebec at the local baseball stadium that would seat approximately 5,000 people. The stage was on second base and there were approximately 2,500 spectators. It was the summer of 1975, and the Tour was for the promotion of Free Hand. GG took the stage very late (around 11pm). The night was calm and the sky was clear. At the end of The Runaway, the band breaks into Experience. All the stage is black, except for a white spotlight,flashed on Kerry behind his white rustic keyboard. He had very long hair,a beard and was dressed in a white suit. The image was of a musician from another time, the renaissance or baroque period, emerging from the past. The music, also seemed to come from another time, and yet it was a music of our time and of our generation. This man had built a bridge between hundreds of year of music in a few seconds. The crowd was absolutely silent, in a state of reverence. Personnally, I felt lucky to have been born in the last half of the 20th century and to have been mature enough to appreciate the importance of those few poetic seconds created by one of the great artists of our time.

Michael Clay, mclay@macromedia.com

I saw GG a total of six times. The first time I saw them was in 1973 with Steeleye Span as the opener. I was 15. They played at the Majestic Theater (Dallas) and there were a total of 32 people in the audience. The Giant came out and played as if it wereTexas Stadium. We had our choice of seats so naturally my friends and I were on the first row not ten feet from Derek. The theater was an old style movie theater. Very baroque and acoustically superb. I remember their sound being small but very intense. The volume seemed perfect but I was only hearing their amps as I was so close. They simply blew us away. Particularly The Advent Of Panurge which none of us were familiar with yet as the album was released but not yet available to us. Later, after the show was over, my friends and I (really,we comprised most of the audience) went around to the back of the theater. Suprisingly Ray opened the back door and stood there and actually spoke with us. Later Kerry came down and stood there and very patiently answered all our questions. He offered us slices of pineapple and explained the weird transition in Mister Class And Quality. He said he simply didn't know what else to do. The whole evening was absolutely incredible!

The second most memorable gig was the one in which my own band, Prism, opened for GG at a place called The Electric Ballroom. This was a huge barn with a stage and a 100 ft. bar running the length of the room. The day of the show at the soundcheck the GG were VERY friendly to us and actually remembered the concert back in 1973 and remembered talking to us. They even let us have ann extra 30 minutes to check which cut into their own time. I'm a pianist and let me tell you it was a bit daunting at the age of 19 to play my originals wih Kerry watching back behind the soundboard. He just stood there drank something from a styrofoam cup and occasionally turned and spoke to Ray standing next to him. Later, when thew Giant did their check they ripped through a scorching, but way too fast, version of For Nobody. They were a bit too loud at the check but later at the concert, with the place packed, the volume was just right. Very punchy but not irritating.(mostly) I remember Memories Of Old Days the best. The audience just sat in stunned silence through the tune, mesmorized by the delicacy of Ray and Gary's acoustic playing. Then they proceeded to rip our heads off with a blistering, almost metal, version of Timing. If you've only heard the studio cut of this song then you simply can't imagine the difference. And yes it was a bit loud.

Steven Courtright StBC@aol.com

I saw Gentle Giant in the late 70's at Chicago's Uptown theatre with my best friend Bob Drake (of 5UUs fame, etc.) At the time progressive rock fans were on the young side and usually slightly wild. I recall a lot of pot smoking at Yes concerts and Genesis concerts, for that matter. Anyway, upon entering the theatre we were struck dumb at the crowd. It was composed of fans of all ages, many dressed as thought it were a Chicago Symphony concert and everyone was quiet and polite waiting for the concert to start. All through the brilliant evening it was clear that everyone knew all the songs and despite the complexity of the music, followed the constantly intertwined lines with ease. It was a very educated crowd, musically speaking! Probably typical for a Gentle Giant fan still. Definitely an eye opening evening for a young person such as myself, with hopes to play music as fun and challenging as did Gentle Giant.

105043.47@compuserve.com

I have had the great pleasure of seeing Gentle Giant perform three times in my life. The first two were in the acoustically perfect Chicago Auditorium. I have never seen a band so musically diverse, intense and tight in all my life. Some of the images that have stayed with me is Kerry Minnear's unbelieveable composition and keyboard artistry, John's swinging beat and the highly underated bass playing of Ray (compare his work with Chris Squire in his prime). As an amateur and later professional musician I have been in several Midwestern US bands that performed GG material in the 1970's and 1980's. It was a riot to perform pieces such as The House, The Street, The Room, Words From The Wise, and Convenience to disbelieving club crowds. When applying for admission to music school, I transcribed On Reflection and re-arranged it for men's choir and percussion ensemble.

Brian J. Idle, iamaidle@cport.com

It was the mid 70's and Gentle Giant was pretty big in Michigan at the time. A guy who painted air-brush paintings on vans named Gator turned me on to Gentle Giant in the parking lot of a place we called The Pit in Owosso Mich. I first heard Octopus and thought it was the most original music I had ever heard. I then went to the nearest mall and bought all the Gentle Giant albums that were out at the time. My first concert that I saw them live was at Cobo Hall in Detroit around 1975, right around when Free Hand was out. Gary Wright opened up with his first Dream Weaver Concert and nobody knew who he was but he blew us all away. Then Gentle Giant opened up with The River and totally blew everyone away. Their recorder solo's they did as well as the percussion solo's so well rehearsed were awsome! The head liner was Rick Wakeman doing King Henry the 8th's wifes. Needless to say it was the best concert I ever saw in my life of 37 years!!!!!

Chuck Bauer, CBauer2227@aol.com

It is probably the highlight of my musical life to have seen GG two times live. I was working at Denny's music in Portland Oregon when they came through in the late spring or summer of 1973. I'd heard about this incredible progressive English band, and had picked up, I believe, Three Friends and Octopus at that point...Here's the strangest part--they were booked into the Paramount Theatre with Sha-Na-Na, but in true Oregon style the folks were openminded enough to recognize true genius when GG started playing!! The packed house went nuts and I'm sure the promoters were scratching their heads. For this cellist and bassist (I was playing for Cam Newton, a Portland guitarist with several records now to his credit) seeing Kerry and Ray rocking that hard on cello and bass made GG the finest concert I'd ever seen (or ever would see) until...

Three years later, in November, 1975, Free Hand had just hit the stores and I was in London and GG was playing all by themselves at a downtown theatre--a dream come true. My girlfriend and I raced onto the tube and joined the happy throng...By that time I knew most of the words to most of the songs (or thought I did) and the place rocked like no place has ever rocked. With each song the sheer joy of the crowd mushroomed and when the sequential lights encircling their stage amps went off the place erupted, of course. GG was and is a truly unique electric ensemble (calling them a 'band' seems silly--Hootie and the Blowfish are a 'band'). They used all the familiar electric and non-electric instruments and sounds to create a completely different kind of music...Being at one of their shows gave you the feeling you were witnessing or even participating in something timeless and thrilling. Since then, I've thought many times that GG were ahead of their time in so many ways--they surely would be universally in demand if films or videos existed of the shows I saw! Judging from the comments from others--that goes for any show they ever did. Thank you, Mssrs Shulman, Minnear, Green and Weathers.

Kevin LaClair, kevin@dreamscape.com

I was able to see Gentle Giant four times in the 70's. My fondest memory was in Binghamton N.Y. 1976. The Playing The Fool tour. Gentle Giant was the headliner and everyone there knew what they were in for. But when they played So Sincere we all went nuts. Weathers started what appeared to be a drum solo and one by one all of the band were joining in on one big drumming jam. From that they went to the Xylophone one by one ... what a night! All of the Giant concerts I went to were great. I would love to see them perform again. I do when I put on the headphones and put on Playing The Fool.

Dave Astley, astley@ica.net

The first GG tune that hit my ears was PROLOGUE from 3F, I heard it on FM radio sometime in 1972 when decent interesting music was the format. I can clearly remember my reaction on hearing it, just like 10 years earlier when I heard LOVE ME DO by the the BEATLES , It was listening ecstacy, nothing less. The hunt for 3F was on. I was used to searching for obscure stuff, but was pleased to find it was a domestic release. Listening to the complete album, I realized these guys were something very special, and it wasn't too long before I began preaching the gospel of GG to my music loving friends. Seeing GG for the first time was an EXPERIENCE I will never forget. They toured Canada & the U. S. in 1973 in support of the domestic release of OCTOPUS, which I now had and was very familier with, and in fact, was and still is, my favorite. They played Massey Hall in Toronto, about 3500 capacity, and the place was packed, probably because the headliners were Wishbone Ash, a take it or leave it band in my opinion, but none the less very popular at the time, as you can imagine the majority of the audience were their fans[but not for long]. The opening act was Vinager Joe, a UK band, straight ahead rock & roll, never to be heard of again[not that I know]. GG came on next and it was like instant dynamite, they blew everyone in that hall away that night, hearing those incredible complex pieces, almost totally rearranged, played with so much ease but with oh. so much energy. The performance they put on that night was second to none and for me, will remain that way forever and I'm sure most other fans that attended. The only thing on my mind after the show was how soon I could see them again.

After the show at Massey Hall, I bumped into a friend of mine, a bassist with a local prog. band [one of the few] & discovered his lady friend knew Kerry Minnear, and informed me that GG were playing at a local university, the next night. It was a general admission show & tickets were available at the door. We didnt get very good seats, but were happy just to be able to see them again. When the show was over I headed for backstage & who was there but my bass player friend & his lady, waiting for his chance to enter the dressing room, this was my opportunity. Very soon the door opened & to my suprise let a few people, including yours truly in. There they were, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, Icons in the flesh, as can be expected I was very excited. I have very little recollection of our conversations, but I do remember meeting Ray first & then Kerry & thinking how approachable & accomodating they both were. I said a quick hello to Derek, & then Gary & John, they were both very friendly & full of humor. I took a few snapshots of the boys with my 110 camera, 35mm was out of reach for me in those days. The snaps turned out quite good, not so much the quality but the candidness, I managed to include myself on a couple, just to prove to my friends I was really there. While there, I also got to meet the roadies, the one I spoke to the most was Frank, of "tell Frank to order me" fame, he was the senior roadie, been with GG from the start, a wonderful person & was to be my ticket to meeting the boys on future tours. God bless him.

Anonymous

A friend turned me on to the GG web page. It reminded me of the time I saw them, it must have been 1972, in Hollywood at The Whiskey. The thing that amazed me the most was their beer consumption during the performance. They were playing their intricate multi-instrumental compositions with amazing dexterity and jubilation. Each member had two six packs of Heineken stacked on top of their amplification and they consumed them all with ease. Their was no sign of intoxication as far as I could tell except for the silly look of enjoyment by the fans. Quite the amazing concert.

Don Goodman, goodmand@cbogate.peel.edu.on.ca

I saw GG at Massey Hall in Toronto on the Free Hand Tour. (Not exactly sure what year it was.) The place was virtually sold out (seats around 2,600). The lights dimmed and a projection screen at the back of the stage lit up. On it was a deck of cards and with each subsequent slide the cards were dealt in various poker hands.

About ten slides into the show a hand appeared beside a dealt hand (a royal flush, if I recall correctly). The hand took on various poses until finally ending up in the finger snapping position. As soon as it reached this point, the place went wild and the lights came on, because along with the picture came the sounds of snapping fingers and the run into the song "On reflection". It was the kind of concert moment when shivers run down your spine and the cheers from the audience drown out the music. The entire show got even better from there. Needless to say, the opening act, "Starcastle" a short lived prog rock band, was blown into oblivion. I saw GG again about eight months later, this time in the echoing hall of Maple Leaf Gardens. The venue was all wrong, but the band put on an admirable performance.

Philip Cullen, philip.cullen@virgin.net

I had the pleasure to see them in concert on many ocassions. I will always remember the acoustic guitar duo with Ray Shulman and Gary Green and the recorder quartet. Whoever heard of a recorder quartet? What a band.

I have seen many fine groups of musicians over the years. ELP, Genesis, YES, Pink Floyd etc. none of which can surpass GG for they depth of their musicianship. Only GG could mix cello's and trumpets, recorders and synths into a blend of music which covers all tastes.

Larry Davis, lpdavis@ra.rockwell.com

I happened across an old concert ticket last night dated Sept. 7, 1972. It's been 25 years since the only time I've seen them. They were an opening act for Black Sabbath in Jackson, Miss. I had really gone to see Argent who was the second group to play that night. I have always been a big fan of the Zombies and Rod Argent.

I was the first person there, arriving about 4 hours before the concert was to begin. They weren't even taking up tickets yet; thus I still have the whole thing carefully preserved. This was also before the days of very strict security regarding cameras. I had brought along my 35mm and my Super 8 movie camera loaded with fast film to record what I could.

I immediately grabbed the first row center seat and was able to hold it for the entire night, fighting off other fans and stoned hippies. I even caught one of Argent drummer Robert Henrit's drumsticks when he tossed them to the crowd later that night.

The roadies were still setting up equipment when I got there and I watched intently. I was then and am now a musician (drums) and was fascinated by the complex intermingling of equipment for 3 different bands on one stage. I watched the sound check. I actually got to meet and get an autograph from Rod Argent. We spoke only briefly as he was double checking the keyboard settings. God, he even had a Mellotron!! Those were the days.

I had never heard of Gentle Giant before that night but when they took the stage and did some music from the first two albums I was absolutely blown away. Never before had I seen this level of talent and precision. Not even the famous James Brown band could touch this. I had brought along three reels of movie film so I shot one whole 50' roll of Tri-X on them. I still have it.

After they left the stage the rest of the concert was a letdown. Even Argent with it's great talent and original arrangements was lacking. Sabbath was good but I kept flashing back to Derek Shulman stalking the stage during Alucard. I wanted to see Kerry Minnear play the Marimba again. I wanted to hear the harmonies. I was hooked!!

The next day I bought both of the first two albums. I never let up from there. I have everything they have done with the exception of the "best of" album; I didn't see a need for it as I had all the songs on the original albums. (All I have is vinyl)

Now, I really did not like "OCTOPUS" nearly as much as "Glass House," "Free Hand," or "Interview." I also prefered "Power & Glory," All of it is good. Here I am, 50 years old and still listening to this obscure band that knocked me out 25 years ago. I do not hear any new stuff that can compare. The closest I have been able to find was Jethro Tull.

Richard Savoie, savoieri@interlinx.qc.ca

Gentle Giant were also in Sherbrooke (Quebec) somewhere in the winter of 1975. The show started with some glass breaking sound (In a glass house) and then, the band went directly into Cogs in cogs from the Power and the Glory album. They played almost the same pacing as on the live album Playing The Fool. I do remember pretty well that wonderful night over twenty years later. Gentle Giant is one of the most magical show I've ever seen... How lucky we were, growing up as kids in the seventies with that powerful music. They made a lasting impact on my entire life.

Terry James, webmaster@AllenMedia.com

i remember seeing gentle giant only one time live on stage at the tower theatre in philly, maybe 71 or so. an excellent concert to say the least. it started with a violin solo from on stage being played against a mirror of the sound from the back of the theatre. shortly the crowd realized that it was sir minnear (not to be rude) playing with himself via electronic delay. he was acutally on stage and playing the delay through back of auditorium speakers. tremendous to say the least. thanks so much for bringing back this memory that will be held as long as my memory survives.

[Dan's note: Ray Shulman was the violinist; Kerry played cello.]

Anonymous, Jandpdon@aol.com

I saw Gentle Giant in November 1977 at the Palladium in New York. They were the headliners (the opening act was a completely forgettable punk band). The band came out late; John Weathers apologized, saying that he was almost unable to perform due to painful hemorrhoids. He made an amusing story out of it, and the crowd roared! The performances on "On Reflection," "So Sincere" (with each member of the band playing drums), and "Memories of Old Days" were unforgettable.

Steve Alford, Nettiedog5@aol.com

We attended a Jethro Tull concert, if memory serves me correct, in Rochester N.Y. in the year 1972 (?) . Gentle Giant opened for Jethro Tull- they played the entire album "Three Friends". Well, I'm 42 years old now, and have not many ties with the music of my youth, but let me tell you that I still, to this day, get a "rush" at the closing minute of the song "Three Friends", when they all sing "Once three friends, sweet in sadness ...." What an incredible band!

Claude Brindamour

I was 14 years old, living in suburban Quebec City. The closest to a rock concert I had the chance to get was Robert Charlebois at The Grand Theatre! One of our neighbours was working for Capitol Records and he came to our house with "a pair of tickets for Gentle Giant tonight and nobody seems interested to attend"; I picked them up and the experience was incredible!

A lot to see for a kid my age: potheads completely stoned waiting for the concert to begin; white cello on the stage with rock instruments; I can't stop staring at the big GIANT logo; flabergasting 5 persons drum "solo"; encounter with my music teacher accompanied by two babes (we exchanged smiles at school the next morning !); a shiver runs my spine as I hear the wonderful vocal harmonies of Shulman, Shulman, Minnear; and not the least... I'm experiencing a rock concert for the first time !

GG really changed my musical life. Without them, I wouldn't have got into English Folk, Traditional, Medieval, Moondog, etcetera. My musical taste has broaden to 'anything that's good or sincere or well-played'. I'm not into prog music anymore... too pretentious. But, let me say that each time I tell the story of "a young kid attending a GG concert in Quebec", people always look at me with envy. And I treasure the memory. I have one regret: Kerry Minnear was a true genius, an audacious arranger and composer; how come he doesn't make some new stuff now ? I miss him. By the way, people from Quebec City interested by a funny and weird musical experience are invited to listen to my radio show L'HOMME SCALP aired on CKRL FM 89,1. www.ckrl.qc.ca

John Kelly, spinoza@atlantic.net

Like many Americans, I had never heard of GENTLE GIANT until one fall evening in 1972 when I drove the 100 miles from little DeLand, Florida to see JETHRO TULL's "Thick As A Brick" tour in the Jacksonville Coliseum.

Tull was on top of the world, with "Aqualung" and "Thick As A Brick" both at the top of the album charts within that year. The Coliseum was packed with wildly dressed rock fans waiting to see the eccentric Ian Anderson and company.

But for an hour or so, the anxiety of seeing Tull was quenched as soon as Gentle Giant hit the stage. They were one of the most colorfully dressed bands I'd ever seen (of course I was but a 17 year old from a small southern town), and their platform shoes--GIGANTIC! And then the music began. As I recall, they began with "Prologue" from "Three Friends," and I specifically remember "Working All Day." Incredible.

An hour later they waved goodbye, played an encore (which was demanded by the Tull-anticipating crowd), and left for good.

Only Tull could have topped Giant's performance--which they did. It is still the BEST concert I've ever attended.

The next day I immediately began my search for a copy of "Three Friends."

Giant never played in Florida again as far as I know, but the memory remains.

Steve Marinaccio, SWAD218@aol.com

My first experience with GG was during the "Power and the Glory" tour. It was at the Academy of Music in New York City,around about 1974. GG was the opening act for Focus(I wonder how many web pages they have?) in a midnight show. I had only heard of GG through friends, I had never heard any of their music. The one thing I realized was that GG fans were fanatical about them. People were screaming F*** Focus we want GG. GG opened with "In a glass house", the place went wild. This band was like nothing I had ever seen. I had just seen Gabriel with Genesis,a few months earlier and was blown away, now I saw these guys playing a dozen different instruments and immediately fell in love with them. That was more than 20 years ago, and I seen the band perform about 10 different times.

The thing I loved about GG was that they were always a cult band. They never achieved the superstar status like Genesis did, which in my opinion was a blessing. I used to go to GG concerts and know most of the people there, from the last concert. We were very royal to the band, and I think it made us(fans) feel closer to them.

John fallon, john@jfallon.demon.co.uk

I was living in Birmingham, England when I was 'into' GG. In fact they were my very first band that I saw live as it were. (about 1975 ish) They were in a double gig with a band called 'Wild Turkey' at the Birmingham town hall. There is another story about that. The drummer (John Weathers I think) spotted smoke in the upper eaves of the hall after the gig and alerted the local fire service. There was a press article the following day saying that if it wasn't for the prompt action of the drummer the town hall would have burnt down. Good ole' GG.

John Covach, jcovach@email.unc.edu

Every year I play some GG for my undergrad music majors in first-term music theory (one advantage to being the professor: you have a captive audience). I use *Free Hand*, and start with "Just the Same"; the way in which the meter seems to shift as the parts begin usually peaks their attention. I then play the beginning of "On Reflection," describing how I've seen the group do this four-voice fugal exposition almost flawlessly live. By the time they hear that, most are convinced.

Michael Adashefski, madpoet@concentric.net

The first time I saw Gentle Giant was on 6/18/76 in Central Park, the night after seeing Yes in Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. It was quite odd because opening for Giant was a Yes-clone band called Star Castle who got little or no support from the crowd of Giant fans. It was a beautiful June night as Giant came onstage and knocked us all out with their musicianship. I had never seen a band who could do so many types of music so well and play so many different instruments as well. The vocals were stunning during pieces like On Reflection and Knots in the Octopus Medley and executed so flawlessly and the band was incredibly tight. Derek's sense of humor was a lot of fun as well as he introduced himself as Barry Manilow(?). I recall that during the massive drum solo the band had a set of twinkling Christmas lights going on during the vibes section which added a nice visual touch to the concert.

New York audiences are known for being hard to please, but Gentle Giant succeeded in giving one helluva night of music and fun. A truly amazing band!

Brian McAllister, mcallister@mit.edu

The only time I was privileged to see GG was at the Paradise in Boston, on November 11, 1977. This is the same show described by Lindsey Pratt, and the same tour as the New York show mentioned by Jandpdon@aol.com.

I was a freshman in college, and only marginally familiar with GG at the time, but a group of friends were going and it sounded like fun. It turned out to be one of the most memorable concert experiences I've ever had.

The entire show was amazing, but my clearest memories are of the Ray + quad echo violin solo described by Lindsey (it seemed like he was playing 5 violins at once), and the group drum "solo", during which they killed all the stage lighting and turned on strobes.

In what is easily the worst booking decision I've ever personally experienced, the opening act was Dr. Feelgood (surely the same "completely forgettable punk band" mentioned by Jandpdon), and they got the worst reception I've ever seen from an audience. By the second song, the crowd was booing and yelling for GG. By the fourth, the band was responding in typical punk fashion with spitting and possibly beer tossing, which the audience returned in kind. They left the stage after at most 20 minutes, to much applause.

Maximiliano Rueda, maxrueda@bellatlantic.net

I was stage manager for Johnny Winter, when my friend Mick Kluchinsky invited me to see GENTLE GIANT at the PALLADIUM in NYC. He was the tour manager for "G.G.."during the last tour.

We had been working together on Johnny's crew when he was offered the job by their management company. At that time he offered me the job of stage manager for the band because he knew I was a big fan of the band, and knew all of their music.

Two weeks later GENTLE GIANT's management told him they wanted to go with an all Scottish crew, so I was out. I was crushed but I still was working for Johnny, who I love dearly as a brother. So it wasn't to bad.

Just before Mick called me to see the band, Johnny was booked on a tour of GERMANY. The day of GENTLE GIANT's show at the PALLADIUM, Mick calls me and invites me to the show. Guest list, backstage pass, etc. I get to the theater, and Mick meets me at the door. He takes me up to the dressing rooms, and introduces me to the band. Then he turns me loose, tells me to sit wherever I want, and he'll talk to me after the show.

What a great show it was. They played stuff from "The Missing Piece", "Free Hand", and lots of other great stuff.

After the show Mick comes up to me and says, "What do you think, think you can handle the gig". I was totally floored. I said, "What are you nuts? You offer me the job weeks ago, and then 2 weeks later tell me I can't have it. I'm committed to Johnny's Germany tour, which I leave for tomorrow. I can't take this gig.", Now I'm completely depressed because I really had wanted to work for GENTLE GIANT for years.

Oh well perhaps it was for the best, because it was the last tour, and I went on to work for Johnny for several years after that, eventually becoming his tour manager.

Bill Andrejko, billa@gnp.com

I was a little disapointed to see that the two GG shows I had the privilege of attending were not included in the on-line concert list of their's. The first time I saw them was in Albany, New York, at the Palace theatre. This would have been around the time Giant For A Day was released. Dr. Feelgood opened, which must have been some sort of inside joke that no one got. Needless to say, GG put on an amazing show as many have so well chronicled on your site. Their use of a the quad sound system holds especially great memories. The second time I saw them was in Rennselear, New York, at a small club called The Hullabaloo (It may have been operated under a different name at that time) A decent prog-wannabe band from Syracuse, 805, opened and got everyone in the mood for GG. "Civilian" had either just been released or was on the way. The show lacked some of the unconventional weirdness that us GG die-hards had come to love and they never seemed to recover from their attempt at "commercialism". Still, they remain one of my favorite pleasures of that time period. Bill.

John Mirabelli

I was fortunate enough to see the band live 3 times. The first time was by accident. They were the opening act for, I think it was, the Strawbs. After they played we could see that it was a tough act to follow. I saw them at Yale's Woolsey Hall, the Palace in Waterbury,CT and at Golden Hall in San Diego. I'd still be going to see them if they only made it possible. Definitely one of the best live bands to ever grace the stage. The excitement they created is difficult to explain. They were so unconventional you were just blown away. They went from heavy to creepy to medieval to classical seemlessly. They were just so tight and cool. They're missed.

Rich "whitebraynz"

I'd seen Gentle Giant in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the early 70's. I think Foghat was on the bill with them. I think I was probably outside smoking a cigarette while Foghat was playing. When compared to Gentle Giant almost everything is boring. I had to laugh when you mentioned Gary Green's crushing handshake. We had spent a few minutes at the side of the stage talking with Gary after their show. To this very day I always associate a handshake with the name of Gary Green. I also associate pain with the name of Gary Green. I would NEVER arm-wrestle with him! I didn't know that much strength could be concentrated within the human hand.

I would love to talk with Kerry Minnear for a long time. Few people in my lifetime have impressed me so much with their abilities/gifts as he. That concert in Allentown was the first time in my life that I'd ever seen a human being do one hundred things that I'd previously believed to be impossible. I mean that I'm a 4/4 Motown musician. He was playing in some weird 13/7 time signature and singing a vocal line with complete ease on top of it. I am SO jealous of his brain!

Tom Tantillo

The best thing about seeing Giant perform live was seeing Kerry Minnear playing his cello while singing another totally countrapuntal vocal part at the same time! Totally Mind-Boggling!!! Now that's what I call TRUE TALENT! The young kids with their urban C-Rap have no idea of how great music can really be!!! What happened to music???

Michael Hutcheson

The show I saw was in Virginia Beach, VA in 1980 at a club, I believe, called Peabody's. After an uninspiring opening act the boys calmly walked out on stage... Gary picked up a glass of wine from the top of his amp, took a long drink from it and set it back down along side some beers. They went into the first song and, of course I was totally blown away! I remember Gary standing on one leg through half of one of the first songs. Don't know why that sticks in my mind but it just seemed like such a casual thing to do. Ray was standing right out front next to Derek playing the most intense "in your face" bass guitar I'd ever heard in my life and with such incredible ease and precision.

This was at a time when rock music was in a transitional period and it struck me that their "look" on stage was a mixture. Derek looked the traditional long-haired '70s singer while Ray seemed to be sporting a decidedly punk look and Kerry had on a white shirt and vest.. very conservative looking. I could care less what musicians wear but it did strike me as interesting. Of course they covered just about all of the Civilian album as well as lots of other material. Derek brought out the balalaika for "Playing the Game" and my night was made complete when they did "For Nobody". The vocals are absolutely incredible on that song... one of my very favorites. John's drum mix was sonic ! His kick drum sounded like a cannon going off.

For me it was a truly inspiring night and one I'll never ever forget. Those guys are five of the finest musicians I've ever had the pleasure to see perform. If they ever do a reunion concert or tour I'll be there no matter what the cost or distance to travel.

Carsten Schaefer

Here's a story about the day that I first saw (and heard) Gentle Giant - a day that changed my life forever! It was 1974 or 1975 (which at the time made me 14 or 15 years of age). I sat at home watching a youth TV programme. It was Sunday morning...noon...the programme I had watched was over...it was about lunch time...my mum called us...I said, "Be there in a minute"...I was just about to switch off the TV, because "my" programme was followed by the "Sunday Concert", which was always classical music - and to be honest, I never really liked classical music all that much. So, the announcer said, "And now one of the premier rock groups"...I pricked my ears..."Gentle Giant!"...???...Who?...Never heard of 'em...I left the TV on - and what I saw was a "live-in-the-studio" performance of Gentle Giant. It was not too long before the release of "Free Hand" (which ultimately became my first-ever Gentle Giant record). I can't remember much of the show...I was just too taken aback...what I heard was the GREATEST MUSIC I'D EVER HEARD (and I already was a fan of bands like King Crimson, etc.). So, after a totally exciting hour of Gentle Giant live (my mum even let me watch it, as show saw how much I liked it!), I had lunch. Then - as every Sunday - I met two friends of mine who would always walk their dogs at that time in a park opposite our house. I scarpered off to meet them. We entered the park AT THE SAME MOMENT from three different directions. When we met, we all said simultaneously, "Have you just watched TV?!"...We then talked ecstatically about the concert which we'd just seen...all three of us have remained Gentle Giant fans ever since!

Bill Lavery

Just thought you might be interested in a gig I saw around early 1972. the band were supporting another band called Black Widow at Highfield Comprehensive school in Liverpool The school hall was packed out mainly because it was the first time they had ever put on a gig and also Black Widow used to include a mock satanic offering of a naked virgin so everyone was expecting that but probably becasue it was a school they didnt do it. Afterward everyone agreed giant had blown them away and people i knew were hooked for life as well. I cant remember the date but Martin Smith was the drummer and they played stuff of the first two albums which had been released. It was the first real gig i had ever seen. GG were brilliant and I have been hooked since. I never believed a band could play so many instruments and in such combinations.

Edward Carus

I have been listening to Gentle Giant since 1975. The first time I saw them live was in a small concert hall (I think it was a converted old movie theater), named The Calderone in Hempsted, Long Island. It held about 1,000 to 1,500 people. My older brother Frank and I were driving past the hall and convinced our Mom to stop so we could check out the upcoming shows. Much to our surprise and delight, GG was listed. We purchased 20 tickets (Mom lent us the money - how cool is that?) and had the entire 5th row and two seats on each side from rows 1-5. Needless to say we were very popular in high school that week. There was a very big following of Gentle Giant in the towns of Williston Park and Mineola, where I was raised. GG was on the Interview tour, which was later released as "Playing the Fool" live album. I was an aspiring artist at the time and drew the covers of Power and the Glory and Free Hand. I handed the drawing to John Weathers and upon urging him, he read the note on the drawing to the crowd. He then placed the drawing on the cover of his bass drum where it stayed there for the rest of the show. If we weren't hooked before seeing the show, we certainly were afterwards. They were brilliant, the best musicians I have ever seen perform. I was fortunate enough to catch them several more times before they broke up. I share great memories of their music to this day with many friends from the old days.

Manny Liotta

I saw GG in Houston Texas, at the Agora ballroom for their Civilian tour. I had the great pleasure to go backstage and party with Gary, Ray, Ray's wife (girlfriend?) and John. we had a good time, and what eventually happened was that the ballroom people were in such a hurry to get out of there, and we were having such a good time, that they turned out all the lights in the place, and we had to make it out from backstage in the dark. I really can't provide you with any dates, but I do know that it was the Agora ballroom because Gary gave me his Agora ballroom shirt sticker i.d. with a big "GG" marked in black marker over it so I could get back stage.

G. R. Mich

I think it was 1974-75, some friends and I(who were GG "freaks")drove to Flint Michigan(150 miles) to see GG. When we got there, we discovered that FOGHAT was headlining! We didn't like Foghat even then! But anyway, GG came out and opened with "In a glass house". We were in heaven, as we were front row center! But what happened amazed us!

We must have been the only GG fans in the place! The croud started BOOING GG! They wanted to party down and boogie to Hogfat! But, the funniest part, the bassist of GG did a solo, and when the crowd was booing him, he made his bass say "Fuck you" to the crowd! I think he used his volume knob to say that by rotating it somehow! Too funny.

We were turning around in our seats looking at the people like "what is wrong with you," but they didn't care. They were busy throwing cups and booing!

Carol Polyus

I went to the concert at Golden Hall at San Diego. I believe they were there with Alvin Lee? The two things that impressed me, were the speakers spaced around the auditorium so that the music seemed to at times go in circles around the room; and the fact that they traded instruments throughout the whole concert... Since I play many instruments myself... this was really neat... and the fans went absolutely wild every time they did it.

Randy Lincoln

i remember seeing the giant and alvin lee in n.y.c. and thankfully alvin lee opened the concert. we had tix for the late show and remembered them coming on stage in the wee hours of the morning. I remember leaving the show and walking outside to a beautiful sunrise and a very silent snowfall... simply magical!

Steve Rapetti

I saw them play at the University Of South Florida in 1973, toward the end of the year... I suspect September. At that time, USF had the 3rd highest rated independent college radio station in the country, largely (in part) due to the existence of a nightly show called "The Underground Railroad" which mixed unusual dramas like "The 4th Tower Of Inverness" in with segments including bits from comedy albums like those by Firesign Theatre, while surrounded by the finest hard to find Art Rock of the day. Gentle Giant got the most requests. The fact of the matter is that Academia had a particular fondness for the Gentle Giant and there was such a buzz going around the campus that the Student Government paid to bring them in for the live show at the end of 1st Quarter, after being deluged by interest from students and professors alike. It was the first and last time I ever saw a band play with all it's instrument amps split in half & facing IN from both SIDES of the stage. What a great simple idea... so everyone could hear each other well on stage (without monitors), with more elbow room and a better "sweet spot" for the drums. It also helped to create a closer rapport with the audience. I'm sure they appreciated our response, which was not unlike Opera, in that the room was entirely bereft of cat-calls, song requests, whistling and other typical stigmata of the concerts of the day. People were completely absorbed, entirely tuned in, and unilaterally dwelled on the experience of each tune so closely that even the applause reaction came after many seconds, very much as though we all hung onto the last trailing note until we could eventually come up for air. I will never forget it, and have never experienced anything quite like it since... long live Gentle Giant! Their music is timeless.

Paul Baker

The first major "rock" concert i ever saw was Gentle Giant at the Hemel Hempstead Pavillion in December 1975. (My brother Chris took me for a Christmas present.) Apart from the fact that the band played brilliantly, my overriding memory was that I got to talk to the whole band (except Gary) who were having a drink in the interval after the support act. I was somewhat overwhelmed at meeting 4 of my heroes, but they appeared totally happy to give up valuable drinking time to give me autographs and discuss other bands that we were mutually interested in. Then again, they probably hadn't met many Gentle Giant fans that were only 12 years old.

David Silver

The first time I ever heard GG, I walked into a room where someone had Free Hand on the phonograph. I was instantaneously converted. I saw several shows in the NYC area between 1975 and, sometime after 1975. There was the Academy of Music (or was it the Palladium by then?) - a concert that left me truly speechless, Central Park, the night Starcastle opened for them, and Avery Fisher Hall - not long after its complete renovation in order to improve acoustics, a real treat.

After one of the shows, a friend and I did a count of all of the instruments we had seen played by GG that evening. We came up with 27.

In those days, being a fan of GG (as well as Zappa, Genesis, Yes, Tull, ELP), one truly felt like a member of a bizarre cult. We sure all looked the part. One thing I remember which illustrated this sense of community was that the pre-show music at the GG concert at Avery Fisher Hall was Zappa (either Roxy & Elsewhere or Overnite Sensation), and, around the same time, the pre-show music for a Zappa concert (probably at the Palladium) was GG (Free Hand I think). Probably just some sound engineers' idea of fun, but it seemed right.

KatxRon40

Saw Gentle Giant in the fall of '75 at the Moore Theatre in Seattle (wonderfully intimate venue). Since they were the opening act for Strawbs, I assumed I'd be in the minority as far as being there to see GG. Boy, was I wrong! I felt kind of sorry for Dave Cousins; the greatest applause he got that evening was when, about mid-show, he said "how about Gentle Giant" or something to that effect. Seeing the GG fans that are out there now is great. I never expected that there was still such a loyal following. I happened upon this page because I'd been listening to a 'History of British Rock' cd I just got and read the all too brief liner notes on Simon Dupree's 'Kites'. Found out that, yep, that's Derek. I'll always remember the way he seemed to lead the rest of the band with his hand jestures, accenting Kerry's amazing keyboard riffs air-style.

Marc (MELMAR4)

Got to see Giant on their final tour 1980, my brother swiped my undersized T- shirt... it was in Miami, and band members appeared to be suffering from food poisoning or the like... John Weathers kept spewing into a bucket right on stage, as if it was all a Monty Python spoof... (speaking of reunions..) What troopers!!! One of the best Shows I've ever seen!!

Strider

I was a GG fan shortly after the 3rd album, (which was the first American release, as I'm sure you know) which I first heard in 1972. After hearing "Three Friends" I acquired the first 2 album in the import bin or my local record shop. GG played a small concert in Dallas, TX in 1974 (if I remember correctly) which was attended by almost no one! They had an opening act whose name I can't remember, but they were kind of an English folk-rock band with a female vocalist. After the show my friends and myself went behind the theatre and asked if we could meet the band (actually, I asked if we could meet Kerry). All the band members came out to meet us except Kerry and John Weathers whom we learned was ill although he had played very well. Later, Kerry came out and we had a very interesting musical discussion with him for about 45 minutes! I remember distinctly the very moment when he realized that we weren't just the "average fan" but were accomplished musicians and understood very well the fundamental complexity of their music. He looked at me with a piercing gaze like he suddenly realized these were the people for whom he was writing and playing music. I later saw the band at 2 large concerts in Dallas and they seemed to enjoy a fairly large cult following in the Dallas area. They guys I was with when we first met The Giant were my fellow band members at the time. Later, after I had left the group they were the opening act for GG at one of the concerts!

Alan Berkman

My first recollection of GG was in 72 or 73, they were backing up Jethro Tull in Chicago, who we all were keen on seeing...I remember asking my friend who was in charge of acquiring the tickets, and the mind candy for the evening, who the back-up band was...needless to say, my reaction of "Gentle what?" was echoed by most of our group, about 10 of us.

All I remember of the show was... Gary Green wore these cool red gym shoes that were up to his knees (and that some of us later bought), Ray Shulman played this incredible long violin solo, Kerry Minnear played this incredible vibes solo, and... I personally enjoyed them better than Tull. That show turned me into the GG fanatic I am today.

I have seen them many times after, including all the garbage with puppets and dolls sticking their heads out of the curtains... but when they were playing music, GOOD music, no one was better. I remember the show where they all played guitars, including John Weathers, who made no attempt at hiding his flubs, and that was the last time I saw them...

BIRD516

Having seen GG seven times, from 1973-80, it's hard to say which was the best. However, the concert at the Joint in the Woods, a nightclub in a remote part of New Jersey, was the most intimate and therefore would rank, reluctantly, at the top. GG showed up in a rented station wagon on a fall night, Oct 23, 1974, just after the Power and the Glory album was released. We could hear, from outside, the band practicing Cog in Cogs, and Proclamation, but surprisingly, when we saw the show, nothing from P&G was played.

Instead, we were treated to most of the In A Glass House album (wow!), and the Octopus set--Knots harmonizing, the dual acoustic guitar playing by Ray Shulman and Gary Green, the band drum solo and recorder playing, among other highlights. There were no tables or chairs set up on the dance floor where we literally stood for most of the concert. The band was up on the stage and I was about 4-5 feet from my favorite all-time rock musician, Kerry Minnear. To watch him play vibes on Funny Ways and The Runaway was fantastic!

I have a close friend of mine whose taste in music is well, pedestrian, at best. At the time, he thought Loggins & Messina and Barry Manilow (egad!) were great. I told him, on his way to Boston the next year for college, "Do me a favor. You think I'm nuts to think Gentle Giant is the greatest band in the world? When you're at school, if GG's playing, go buy a ticket see the show. If you think it sucks, I'll send you the money for the ticket." Being (still) a great friend, he took me up on the bet. He called me a few days after the concert (where the P&G songs were added to the show), and said "That was the most amazing concert I've ever seen! I can't believe how great Gentle Giant are! You know, I went by myself, and I wish I took this girl I've been dating. What happened was the very next night after the Gentle Giant concert, I had already had tickets for Loggins & Messina, so the two of us went. She enjoyed L&M, but I couldn't get Gentle Giant out of my mind. I kept saying to her, "This is nothing. It's boring. You've gotta see this wild band my friend had me see, Gentle Giant." The girlfriend was not amused, and he soon found himself broken up from her--ah, the perils of loving Gentle Giant. As a postscript, my friend, over many years, simply lost interest in Gentle Giant and prog rock, but he always remained respectful of it. And I think that's I've ever asked from people: Respect progressive rock the way we're told to respect be-bop jazz. Both have their pretentiousness, but there's a timeless beauty to the music and musicianship. Gentle Giant, in my humble opinion, is the greatest example of prog rock. Hail!

David Vella

I've been a fan for many years, and saw them in concert 3 times, more times than I saw any other single act. All three concerts were in Springfield, MA. Once at the Paramount Theatre (circa 1973 or 4, with Focus as the opening act), twice at the Sprinfgield Civic Center; the first time in a poorly planned concert - they were booked with of all people, the J. Geils Band. Nobody in that audience filled with Neanderthals could appreciate GG. Indeed, most of them continued to talk and mill around throughout GG's peformance, rudely shouting things like "Beer!" and "Bring on Geils!" inbetween songs. The band was miffed, puzzled, and embarrassed, and played a very short set. The fifteen or twenty people who came specifically to see GG got up and left when GG did (much to the consternation of the rest of the audience), so as not to subject ourselves to "Geils". I hope the band at least saw the few of us devoted fans leave when they did. The third time was for the Playing the Fool tour, which was a great show (as was the Paramount Theatre show), and more than made up for the previous miserable concert. Indeed, Giant was the top billing, the house was packed, and every one of them was there to see GG and cheer them on.

Tedd Van Wagner

I saw GG once in '75 or '76 in the gymnasium at the State University at New Paltz, New York. The place was packed and the performance was nothing short of stunning. Almost as incredible as the performance was the sound quality. As you know, a gymnasium is not the ideal location to listen to any performance let alone a performance that has the range and sublty of a group like GG, but if someone on stage had dropped a pin you would have heard it in the audience. The PA cabinets were stenciled "Sound by Paul." Whoever this guy was he deserved as much credit for an amazing evening of music as the band did.

William Quentin Johnson

My one chance to see GG came on Bicentennial weekend in 1976. They were a last minute addition to a show at a medium-size hall in Rochester (the Masonic Temple?), sandwiched between Angel and Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. Knowing that the band's stage time would be limited was disappointing, but the show was obviously not to be missed. When we got there I was amazed by the number of people wearing GG t-shirts and talking about the band. It became apparent that most of the concertgoers were there to see Gentle Giant, most, like me, for the first time. We sat through Angel, a group of Yes-poseurs complete with caped keyboard player. Their set was peppered with shouts of "GIANT" from the audience, and I soon joined in. I don't remember what the band's first song was, but I clearly remember being absolutely shocked that they were actually playing what I heard on my records. As much as I liked the band I was convinced that there must have been some editing or other studio gimmickry to make them sound THAT TIGHT. After the first song Ray Shulman took center stage to shout "Hello" to the audience. Hearing nothing in response he shouted louder, "HELLO!!!" and finally got an answer. I think we were all stunned, and Richie Blackmore fans must have been positively bamboozled. The band played for about an hour, with at least one encore, before they had to vacate the stage. I remember that quite a few concertgoers walked out at that point, but we decided to at least give Rainbow a chance. After one song we concluded the best thing about the headliners was the big multi-colored rainbow that arched over the stage. Then we walked out, too.

Pier Calderan

I'm an Italian GG fan (41 years old). I saw GG in concert at "Teatro Garibaldi" of Treviso on October 17th 1973. The concert was simply great... The hall was in a total obscurity and the people were screaming... after a while the strobo-lights began to flash syncing with a broken-glass sound at a high volume... the people were shocked by the first notes of "The Runaway" (we didn't know yet it was from the new album)... then Derek introduced the group and the new album and began to sing the popular songs from Octopus ("The advent of Panurge" and a stunning version of "Knots"). Then they went on singing a fantastic "Funny Ways" and a medley from "Acquiring the taste", ending with some songs from the new album "In a glass house" just released. I also spoke with Derek on the backstage after the concert, I've shaken his hand and given him all my affection. I was a timid teenager 15 years old and I remember my mother hits when I went home late at night (it was a foggy night and I made auto-stop to get home). But from that night I decided to begin studying music in order to play their music one day. Really! Ok, I never had the possibility to see them later, but I still listen to their great music and play it too. Gentle Giant is alive!

John Burns

I remember when I was in the Royal Navy at on HMS Resolution in the early 70's I saw an advert for a film show of a Jimi Hendrix concert to be shown at a college in Glasgow, I can't be specific about dates. As I had been a Fan before he died, I decided to go to the show. When I walked in to the hall I was amazed to see the amps and sound gear which was set up and thought it was for the movie. I sat down and after a short interval Gentle Giant was introduced, I saw these guys come on stage and was a bit pissed off since my time was restricted due to train timetables. Well I wasn't mad for long, the band did things musically which just kept me enthralled for the whole of their set. I'm not usually demonstrative but I stood and cheered and clapped and whistled and demanded an encore. I can't even remember if I saw the Hendrix film now (no disrespect Jimi) but the next time I got shore leave it was straight to the record shop and bought "In a Glass House", and I have been a fan ever since.

I was then fortunate enough to see the Band on the "Free Hand" tour at the Drury Lane theatre where they once again astounded me with their versatility particularly the when the whole band played drums (stolen afterwards by Ultravox and Thin Lizzy I think it was). Even Queen stole the 3 or 4 second intro trick on one of their albums. Anyway, I thought I would let you know how chance made me a fan for life, I still drive people mad by forcing them to listen to CD's (I save the Vinyl copies for posterity).

Scott Thomas

I regret missing my first opportunity to see GG when they came to Widener University, Chester PA, in 1978 (Missing Piece Tour). I remember the concert being advertised as getting several dollars off the admission price if you brought in some canned food for a local charity. GG was a socially conscious band !! :).

I eventually did catch them next time around at the Tower Theater in May 1980. By then I had every album up to the Missing Piece . The audience was all hard core GG and absolutely hated the New Wave band that opened, which by the way, did not complete their set - I felt sorry for them. The GG set wasted valuable time by including numbers from the last 2 albums. However, the place erupted when GG segued into Freehand. The 5 guitars on "Memories of Old days" and "On Reflection" stands out. The encore was the Advent of Panurge, I had been hoping all night to hear it.

Wayne Klein

I became a fan in 1976 at the ripe old age of 16 but didn't get around to seeing them until their very last show at the Old Waldorf (a club that no longer exists) in San Francisco in 1980. It held about 280 to 300 people all told and I do remember that we were only three tables away from the stage. It was a tremendous show! They did announce that it was to be their last show for both the tour and the band and, while this created a momentary atmosphere of sadness, it was made up for by the euphoria of their performance.

I don't recollect the exact set list now but do recall that they played a highlights version of some of the material from Octopus and also performed one or two numbers from The Power and the Glory. The bulk of the material was from Civilian (which they were promoting at the time).

Scott McKnight

I saw GG twice. The first (I believe) was at Louie's Rock City in Arlington, VA. Louie's has been gone for ages. It had been a supermarket, then a Polynesian night club, then Louie's, now a Chinese Retaurant. I guess this show would have been in the fall of '77 with Doctor Feelgood opening. As has been described elsewhere, GG fans were not in the mood for Dr. F and made that fact plain. It was great to see the band after listening to the albums for years. I mostly remember lots of instrument swapping, Ray's surround-sound violin solo and someone wearing a Giant mask sticking his head through the curtains behind the drums during a drum solo. Oh, and I remember after the show going to the bathroom, standing at a urinal and looking over to see John Weathers at the urinal next to mine.

The second time I saw GG was at the Capitol Center in Largo, MD. Now I believe it's called the US Air Arena. We were at the far end of the arena, couldn't hear much and couldn't see much beyond what was on the big projection screen in the center. Still, even that was pretty cool.

Rick

My most vivid memory of the two Gentle Giant concerts I attended is from their 2nd appearance in Dallas, in 1976, between the two shows described on this page by Prism's Michael Clay, GG's first of two at the Electric Ballroom. I'm certain that many, and probably most of the audience had never heard GG before and appeared to be listening only casually. There wasn't any seating close to the stage (so to dance to the usual fare, I suppose) and during the Giant's set a large number of us were standing in clumps in this space, but well back from the band. The bassist/vocalist from Prism, Steve Parker, his girlfriend and I were standing near the front of this group enjoying the Giant's performance of "Knots" when something very odd happened. Just as the band reached that heavy, descending riff, DUH-DUh-Duh-duH, some 90% of the audience on the dance floor RUSHED passed us to the edge of the stage, roaring their approval and beaming admiringly at our heroes. The band seemed only a bit startled by this and didn't miss a note.

Parker and I, still in place, stood blinking in puzzlement at each other for a moment. It felt something like vindication for the believers. I moved up to join the new Gentle Giant fans, a few of whom I would later get acquainted with before GG returned the following year for the gig where Prism opened. At that show, the Electric Ballroom was packed to point of fire hazard.

Pat Sellars

My future ex-husband introduced me to GG and said he'd seen them play in '72 or '73 at the basketball gymnasium at the University of So. Florida. A radio station had given the tickets away, had actually begged folks to take them because no one had ever heard of GG.

GG was a tad late and about half of the 200 or so folks gave up and left. He said when they did arrive, the few fans and the horrible acoustics didn't dampen their spirits at all. He said they actually seemed to enjoy the smaller crowd, talking and bantering with them, answering questions, explaining stuff and showing them how they did this and that, showing them what the instruments they used were and the different sounds they could make.

He remembers being awe-struck by their music, which he'd not heard before. Everyone was sitting on the hard, wood floor getting their heads ripped off at what he said was one of the longest concerts he's ever seen. GG jammed from one tune to another and instead of breaking, one or two would jam on their own while the others rested a bit.

His total recall in a sentence was, "They sounded like classically trained musicians who sometimes sounded like animals locked in a garage, but the whole sounding like music for the untamed soul."

We are divorced for a long time now and he got custody of the GG vinyls. I waited for years for GG to come back to Florida but never saw it happen. A shame, that. Praise Goddess for CD's and your website!

Robert Chen

Like many on this page the first time was 1972 Jethro Tull at Madison Square Garden. Who was that band? Three Friends was the album. Then back to the first two as imports. Then it happened, OCTOPUS! Then even better In A Glass house and on it went. Saw them in Boston 1975 at the Music Hall. They're breaking down the equipment and nobody wants to leave, the crowd still wants more. All this and no air play. Then in 1976 I had a lucky break to be playing in a band with Mick Ronson(Guitar Great) and we get to open for The Giant. Hang back stage, talk to all the guys and have a once in a lifetime experience. 1979 or 80 see them for the last time at Toads Place Ct. Not quite the same but lucky to see them before it's over for good. For the fans who were able to see them consider yourself lucky. There will never be another band like this! The record industry won't have it. God bless Gentle Giant for the many days and nights of musical bliss!

Rob Rosen

All this talk of concert stories reminds me of a story told to me about ten years ago. I was in a record shop in Rockridge (near Berkeley) which had a rather good selection of prog, including the Giant. I found a mint copy of IAGH which I brought to the counter (cost me $15...a deal).

The proprietor, seeing the record I was buying, asked me if I was a fan...and told me of his experience seeing the Giant on tour in the Midwest in the mid-70s. Apparently at the time they were opening for ELO (not to be confused with ELP).

The Giant took the stage, played a few numbers, and then started in with On Reflection. The audience, apparently unappreciative, started to boo and rather rudely request that the Giant leave in favor of the headliners.

After a few minutes of this, our boys stopped the music, looked at each other, and bowed to the audience simultaneously. Derek said "Thank you very much," and the band exited the stage...end of the Giant's show for that evening.

My friend the proprietor was deeply depressed. He had driven quite a distance to see the Giant and couldn't have cared less about ELO.

Having only discovered the Giant in 1980, I missed their last San Francisco gig by about six months. I never got to see them live, unfortunately. What a sad story.

Jeff Kamil

I saw Gentle Giant open for Poco @ Wolsey Hall, Yale - New Haven, CT (I'm not sure of the year, I think 1973 or 74). The crowd came to see Poco. They hissed and booed for the first couple of Giant numbers..then magically... got quiet... and even more magically started cheering and shouting. By the end of the set they gave them a standing ovation.... Great show... great story!

Jackbugs

I remember seeing GG at the Tower Theater in northern NJ I think during the Glass House tour (1974, I believe). I was blown away by their virtuosity and theatrics. At one point in this multi-instrumental display, the entire group was huddled together in the center of the stage playing toy xylophones! They were the opening act for a Swedish band named Focus (remember them?) who were such a letdown after GG that we left halfway through their set. It definitely ranks as one of the best rock concerts I've ever seen.

Steve Jeffery

I had the privelage of seeing Gentle Giant 3 times in the early seventies in Wales. In each case I was greatly impressed by the musicianship, being a budding musician myself. The 3 gigs featured the 3 different drummers. I bought all albums as they came out and still have copies, some autographed. I am slowly building up my CD collection to include all albums.

I, like another of your correspondents, was also greatly impressed by their beer swilling ability, being fairly famous in my neck of the woods for similar feats. It seemed only to add to the convivial atmosphere they were able to produce.

I remember in the 1st concert being really into the multiparticipant drum solo on 'Nothing at all' and actually dancing on stage with them on the 2nd gig to 'Plain Truth'. Ray Shulman's antics with his violin on that number were something to behold. They were brilliant. The xylophone solos were inspiring, the arangements amazing, and the music was just orgasmic.

In retrospect, and I know that this is probably an unpopular opinion amongst GG fans, I believe they suffered from the loss of the first two drummers, Malcolm Mortimore and Martin Smith. John Weathers just lacked the subtlety of expression that both of these great drummers could produce(sorry John).

This leads me to my meeting with the band after the gig in Barry. I think it was around the time of the Octopus/In a Glass House albums, both fine pieces of work. I went into the dressing room after the gig to get my albums autographed. I had a bit of a chat with the band. I remember being delighted to find out that Kerry Minnear had the same favourite album as myself -- Acquiring the Taste. One of the band then asked what I thought of the new drummer. The foolishness of youth brought my honest reply to the tune of something like "I can take him or leave him." At this point John Weathers rose to his full height (and he was a giant of a man, excuse the pun) and I thought that he was going to punch my lights out. Fortunately Kery and, I believe, Ray Shulman intervened and shepherded me to the door before any damage could be done. I often wonder if any of them remember the incident. Probably not.

David Ward

I still fondly remember a Gentle Giant concert in Ottawa in November 1974. I was somewhat familiar with "The Power and the Glory" and "Octopus", but nothing could have prepared me for what I heard that evening!

The show opened with a slide show countdown and the band let loose with "Cogs in Cogs". Here were 5 guys playing exceedingly complex music, yet they all had smiles on their faces and often broke into a strange foot-stomping choreography.

There were lots of highlights: John Weathers' powerful drumming (I kept imagining a blacksmith at his anvil), Ray Shulman's charisma (projected throughout a concrete hockey arena), the acoustic guitar section with Gary Green, Kerry Minnear's amazing Boys in the Band and Derek Shulman's frantic "conducting".

And I will never forget Derek Shulman introducing the band. He named everyone in turn and when it came to himself, he said "... and me? I'm Robert Plant!", shook the mike stand and laughed with everyone else.

PETERGIF

I am a 42 year old "stuck in the early seventies' type of guy. I have seen Gentle Giant seven times in my life, and they were fabulous every time. However, the best concert I saw them play was the first one... around the 1974-5 area....

They were opening up for Focus at the Academy of Music on 14th streeet in New York City. I went to see Focus to hear them play their Hamburger Concerto LP, that they had just released, and had never heard of Gentle Giant. Suddenly, the lights go out and we hear the sound of glass breaking, the opening to the Runaway from Glass House.... They went on to play an unbelievable show. They were so good that no one wanted to see them get off the stage. They were the opening band and we all felt like we were ripped off.... I am glad to have seen them as many times as I did, and I still listen to their music often today.... Even my 7 year old daughter likes the Runaway... (well, she at least likes the sounds of the glass breaking).

David Loftus

Oddly enough, I heard a little Gentle Giant years before I knew who the band was. In about 1972 or so, my father was teaching secondary school music and received in the mail a series of 45-sized discs that played at 33-1/3 rpm and iillustrated various musical points with contemporary examples. (I remember Felix Caveliere talking about multi-tracking with the Rascals.) One of these discs included the first minute or two of "Schooldays," which I found interesting, but I didn't follow up on it at the time; I was 13 or 14 and mainly listening to Creedence and Deep Purple then.

By 1976 I was a confirmed Yes fan, and a buddy and I got tickets to see them at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon in July. We lived in a small town on the southern Oregon coast (Coos Bay, where the New Carissa grounded in February 1999), so not too many of our classmates shared our tastes. A month or two before the show, he played me a new addition to his collection called Free Hand. After I was blown away by the first two cuts, he announced the awesome news: This band was opening for Yes!

I left that concert with my allegiance switched to Gentle Giant. Yes was properly incredible, but there was something very cool and distant about the band, as if they were gods who had come down from the heavens to serenade us mere mortals for a brief time, while the Giant had a warm, approachable, "aw shucks, we're just a bunch of guys having fun up here" attitude while doing these incredible things musically. I wish I could remember what they played - probably the percussion quintet with "So Sincere" and the recorder quintet with "The Advent of Panurge" - but I was too new to the band to know the songs.

I saw them at least twice after that, both at the Paradise in Boston, where I went to college. I was at the very same show described by Lindsey Spratt and Brian McAllister where Dr. Feelgood opened. I've since read a remark from Derek that GG really liked the opening band, which sounded to me like "middle-aged punk" and singularly inappropriate for pairing with our prog heroes, but I was still shocked that the fans could be so ugly. Not only were they yelling nasty things, but tossing ice cubes from their drinks. The lead singer responded by spitting and yelling "Fuck you!"

Again, I was too young and inexperienced in my concertgoing career to make notes about the setlist or for my memory to preserve much of the show, but nobody could touch the band either on vinyl or stage, for me. When some airline or other lost my luggage during one of my transcontinental flights between home and school, I was most crushed that my Missing Piece tour T-shirts were lost forever.

Michael Von Knorring

In mid 70 G.G. came to Gothenburg-Sweden for a concert at our concert-house. I was only 16 then, i said to my father you must come with me, to a Gentle Giant concert. ok he said, and i went to buy tickets. My father told me, get tickets as far from stage as possible. So we got tickets as far from stage as possible. when we arrived that evening the first we see is a big speaker on our seats. Now what, you have to sit on the speaker someone said, are you kidding me i said. My father and i didn't sit on the speaker. We sat beside it. It was the best concert i ever been to and i been to a lot. I've been a fan since early 70. After the concert i walked with G.G. to the hotel Park Aveny on Gothenburgs Aveny. I forgot to tell you i'm a drummer and played drums since i was a little boy. in the mid 80 i played in a group called Norden Light, we had a demo sent with our Manager to Derek Shulman, he listened to it and said it was good but he didn't want to sign us. i was lucky to do an audition with Yngwie Malmsteen and got the job.

Jory Gaier

I discovered Gentle Giant by accident. The band was the opening act for a John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra concert that I attended at the Felt Forum in New York. I don't remember the exact date but the ticket stub from this show states '1973'. I was amazed and impressed by GG's performance and what is memorable is that they may have been laughed off the stage! The violin player (it must have been Ray) was jumping like mad and supposedly split his pants! I was too far away to see if that was true but that was the story being circulated while we waited for Mahavishnu after GG finished playing. It was just a matter of days before I bought my first GG album - Octopus, which I was able to find at a local department store of all places. Getting the first three albums, however, took some effort. My crowd didn't drive at the time so that complicated things for a bunch of kids in the New Jersey suburbs. To make a long story short, we actually took a train to another town on several occassions to get to a record shop that had GG, Acquiring the Taste, and Three Friends.

Depending on your perspective, I may or may not have attended the Giant concert at the Joint in the Woods in New Jersey (1974?). Being underage, I would not be allowed entry into this venue so those of us under 18 (the drinking age at the time) who didn't have phony ids tried listening to the show outside the building without too much success. According to the lucky ones inside, the audience was trying to boo and hassle the opening act off the stage to allow Giant to start playing. The lead singer of this opening act supposedly said: "Look, I know Gentle Giant warms up better than most bands play but we gotta do our act!"

Have you ever heard of Focus? This was a Dutch band that was known for some song in which they did a lot of yodeling. Focus was the headliner for a show at New York's Academy of Music (Nov '74 or Oct '75) that Giant appeared at. My recollection of this show was that there couldn't have been more than 50 GG fans in attendance and at least 10-12 of these folks were from my hometown in Jersey. Some of the Focus fans offerred some polite applause but most of them were just anxious for the Focus show to begin. The folks from my town proceeded to leave within minutes after Focus began playing and decided to wait for GG. After awhile, the band appeared and I was impressed by what seemed to be a down-to-earth nature as most of them were carrying duffel bags (with their stage clothes???). After a few minutes of chit chat, the five band members started walking down the streets of New York carrying their bags to wherever they were heading. No limos, no groupies, no press, no agents, no entourage - I was just a kid but felt awe struck that these musical geniuses could be so human.

Other concerts I attended in the New York area were in Central Park and Long Island. The Long Island show on July 3, 1976 is memorable for several reasons. I have always remembered the date because to get to the show from our homes in Jersey meant driving past New York Harbor where we could see many of the Tall Ships that would be participating in the Bicentennial Celebration. I believe this was one of the finest performances Giant ever gave and they ended the show by singing and playing "Happy Birthday" to America!

The last two times I saw Giant perform was in Boston. Once as an opening act for Renaissance and the second time as the headliner at a very small club around the time the Missing Piece was released. Giant was the headliner at this small club and it was a good performance but what remains vivid in my mind was the opening act by a horrible little band called Dr. Feelgood that was representative of the beginning of the punk movement. The lowlight of Dr. Feelgood's show was for the lead singer to shake up a beer bottle and squirt it all over his band mates in a sexual manner. Not to sound high and mighty (and I am not a prude) but could any GG fan appreciate such nonsense? I can still remember leaving the show feeling somewhat sad that not only would Giant never be truly appreciated but also that the band was becoming spiritually dead since I was having a hard time getting into the Missing Piece.

Obviously, the best GG shows were the ones where they were the headliners or sole performers because a GG audience provided a spark to the atmosphere. I never understood how promoters could put vastly different types on bands on the same show but then again, if GG had never opened for Mahavishnu, I may have been deprived of some of my favorite and greatest pleasures.

Some of my favorite concert moments and memories include when the whole band played drums at once and then switched one by one to recorders. All five band members playing Yankee Doodle on recorders. Ray on violin and Kerry on a white cello during Funny Ways. Derek moving his fingers, hands, and arms. Derek holding up his index finger while closing out Advent of Panurge. Derek on the Shulberry for Playing the Game. John Weathers wearing an Oakland A's jersey at several shows. Gary Green's toe tapping while playing the recorder. Gary leading off the vocals on Knots. Slide pictures of each band member and then the Giant displayed high above the stage.

Best fun I ever had with Giant music (besides just listening and watching the band perform) was when I was attending college and living in a dorm. Another Giant fan and I decided to blast the glass breaking in the beginning of The Runaway through the dorm. What a marvelous way to create a stampede! Don't be alarmed - we did this during the day. Doing this at night during a New England winter would have been a bit cruel!

The most influential album for me was The Power and The Glory due to its release during the Watergate-Nixon aftermath. The album during the context of those times convinced me the band was onto something more than just music!

Well, I guess this provides some insight to what I was fortunate to see during the '70s. I can only hope and pray that there were folks who were saved and/or rescued from Disco by a healthy dose of Giant. I also hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed remembering and writing it.

Jan Jakobi

Gentle Giant played on 28 september 1977 in Eindhoven in the "stadsschouwburg." It was a great show as usual, and it included the following gimmick. In the middle of the concert, they played a unknown tune that existed of a load of noise and non-symphonic cacaphony. The people in the audience looked at each other surprised because this was completely different from the beautiful songs we were used to hearing from GG. At the end of this piece, the drummer came to the microphone and said: "This was our latest punk hit, or should I say punk-shit." The audience then cheered and understood that it was a joke by the band ridiculing this bad new trend in music.

Another concert (21 May 1976 in Breda) was a festival with Gentle Giant topping the bill. As GG was about to start, the stage was completely dark and you heard the sound of the glass breaking ("The Runaway") over the soundsystem. Apparently just before the music started, the members of the band jumped up, and when they were 3 feet from the ground, the lights went on. The effect was as if they had fallen from the sky!

David Philpott

At the age of 17 I perchance had a conversation with a newly acquired friend at work who was asking me of my musical tastes, to which I replied Gentle Giant never dreaming that he had even heard of the band let alone what he was about to tell me.

It transpires that his brother in law was a roadie with the band and had been for several years. My mate then said that if I gave him one of my record sleeves he would endeavour to get me the band's autographs. This I promptly did.

To cut a long story short it took me nearly two years to get the cover back, and to my delight it was signed by the whole band and is still my most treasured possession all these years later. (I am now 45.)

Mitch Freedman

I happened to be in England--my one trip to Europe--in the late summer of 1977. The Missing Piece album was being advertised in the Melody Maker magazine just before it was to be released by Chrysalis Records in England. This was a couple of months before the American release.

I walked into Chrysalis Records in London and asked if they had any info on the new Gentle Giant album. I waited in the reception area for about 20 minutes, sitting next to the manager for a new band Chrysalis had recently signed called Generation X (some guy named Billy Idol was in that punk band!). Then, I was called into the office and was introduced to a Chrysalis Records executive and....Derek Shulman, who also happened to be there.

I was all of 20 years old and I was completely speechless--a rarity for me! Anyway, Derek gave me a copy of the "single" of "I'm turning around"--off the new album. "Going for the top 40!" or something like that, he said. He and the record company exec then gave me the Gentle Giant "Missing Piece" Puzzle and all the publicity stuff I needed. I had told them, truthfully, that I had just started writing record reviews for my college newspaper (Rutgers University in NJ). When I returned to my room at the local hostel, I noted the puzzle they gave me was missing a piece. I had been shown the album cover for the new album as well so I thought, and still wonder, "Was this the one they used for the album cover?"

I write since the photo in your site that you've just released this month, January 2002, is of that puzzle. (Editor's Note: This puzzle was a promotional item.)

Steven Whitcombe

Apr. 13, 1973 . . . in Chicago, Illinois . . . at the Kinetic Playground GG opened for Procol Harum. I had driven down from central Wisconsin with the girl I was about to marry to see Procol Harum, who had recently released Grand Hotel. I was very anxious to see them, even without Robin Trower. Neither my wife nor I had ever even heard of Gentle Giant. They were simply something we were going to have to sit through . . . and the venue, the Kinetic Playground, was a giant cement floor to sit on. I was impatient when they started to play (they opened with "Prologue"); I thought it sounded pretty weird. The song wasn't even finished before I was a convert. Never saw such virtuosity before, or since. Gary Green played guitar like nobody else I've ever seen live, not even David Gilmour or Robin Trower or Stevie Ray Vaughn. I was knocked out by it, didn't want them to stop playing . . . I really didn't even care whether I ever saw Procol Harum (and, hey, I still love them). I never saw GG again (I guess I didn't need to, maybe?), my wife never cared for them as much as I did, I suppose, so I never pushed for it. I do wish I had seen some later shows, but this one would be hard to top in any way, at any time. Flawless, sharp, tight, absolutely perfect.

Dag MacLugh

Ah! So long ago!

I caught GG at the Guild Hall in Cambridge, England, in March or April, 1972. I'd never heard of them (being American, on vacation in the Mother Country), and happened to see a flyer advertizing their concert. What the hell? thought I. I'd just kissed a lovely bird goodbye, and had an evening to kill before heading north to Edinburgh.

Was I lucky, or what? Such a concert! Wall to wall sound, that stuffed Ye Olde Guild Hall with Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Jazz--you name it! The piece de resistance, though, was the drummer who, in the midst of his set, bounced his sticks off the floor and caught them, without missing a beat! Unbelievable!